No Love Lost In Philadelphia Mayor's Race

In the final days of the race to lead the City of Brotherly Love, the candidates were neither particularly brotherly nor showing one another much love.

Philadelphia will hold its mayoral primary today, with the winner of the Democratic primary virtually assured of becoming the city's next mayor.

Five men are running for the nomination, including two congressmen, Robert A. Brady and Chaka Fattah. Also in the race are former city councilman Michael Nutter, insurance executive Tom Knox and state Rep. Dwight Evans. Fattah was seen as a potential front-runner when he joined the race but has struggled. According to the recent Keystone Poll, Nutter led the pack, followed by Knox, Fattah, Brady and Evans.

The race, which had begun with civil exchanges between the candidates, devolved into personal attacks about religion in the final days, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Fliers were distributed late in the contest alleging that Nutter had left the Roman Catholic Church when it was convenient and that Brady never attends Mass. The fliers promoted Knox, who has spent some $10 million on the campaign, prompting Nutter to call him a "scumbag." Knox told reporters he had nothing to do with the fliers.

-- Zachary A. Goldfarb

Anti-Tax Group Praises Giuliani

Former New York mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani was praised yesterday by the anti-tax Club for Growth, which noted his "executive talent" in cutting taxes, supporting school vouchers and instituting welfare reform in a heavily Democratic city. "Mayor Giuliani's economic record is not perfect, but he deserves credit for the remarkable nature of his accomplishments," Club for Growth President Pat J. Toomey said in a statement.

While the Republican-friendly group did not endorse Giuliani, its praise could help the ex-mayor establish his bona fides with conservatives, particularly at a time when he is being widely criticized in those circles for his support of abortion rights. The Club for Growth's remarks about Giuliani, an installment in a series of reviews that the group is conducting of the economic records of the 2008 GOP hopefuls, were far more enthusiastic than the group's comments about Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). The group said of McCain, "his overall record is tainted by a marked antipathy towards the free market and individual freedom." The Club for Growth has not rated most of the 2008 GOP field, including former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney.

Both Romney and Giuilani attended the group's winter conference in March, which McCain skipped. McCain's opposition to income tax cuts at the time President Bush pushed them through Congress in 2001 and 2003 angered some conservative activists.

-- Perry Bacon Jr.

Endorsement Watch

Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) each picked up big-name endorsements yesterday in the New York area. Clinton received the endorsement of Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer, fellow senator Charles E. Schumer and other Democratic officials at the state Capitol in Albany.

In a visit to New Jersey, Obama won the endorsements of Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker and Jersey City Mayor Jerramiah Healy. Parallels have been drawn between Obama and Booker; both are young, Ivy League-educated, black politicians who have made a splash in American politics in recent years. Obama was in New Jersey to visit with the state AFL-CIO.

Quotable

"I think right now that it is a great possibility. . . . I don't want to get into all this stuff. I want to focus on what we have to do to make America successful."

-- Former House speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), speaking on ABC's "Good Morning America" about the likelihood he will announce he is running for presidency in September.